“Hands-on learning research that benefits the economy, environment.”

Research consistently shows that children who have opportunities to actively investigate natural settings and engage in problem-based learning greatly benefit from the experiences. They gain skills, interests, knowledge, aspirations, and motivation to learn more. But how can we provide these rich opportunities in densely populated urban areas where resources and access to natural areas are limited? This project will develop and test a model of curriculum and community enterprise to address that issue within the nation's largest urban school system. Middle school students will study New York harbor and the extensive watershed that empties into it, and they will conduct field research in support of restoring native oyster habitats. The project builds on the existing Billion Oyster Project, and will be implemented by a broad partnership of institutions and community resources, including Pace University, the New York City Department of Education, the Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the New York Academy of Sciences, the New York Harbor Foundation, the New York Aquarium, and others. The project focuses on an important concept in the geological, environmental, and biological sciences that typically receives inadequate attention in schools: watersheds. This project builds on and extends the Billion Oyster Project of the New York Harbor School. The project model includes five interrelated components: A teacher education curriculum, a student learning curriculum, a digital platform for project resources, an aquarium exhibit, and an afterschool STEM mentoring program. It targets middle-school students in low-income neighborhoods with high populations of English language learners and students from groups underrepresented in STEM fields and education pathways. The project will directly involve over forty schools, eighty teachers, and 8,640 students over a period of three years. A quasi-experimental, mixed-methods research plan will be used to assess the individual and collective effectiveness of the five project components. Regression analyses will be used to identify effective program aspects and assess the individual effectiveness of participation in various combinations of the five program components. Social network mapping will be used to further asses the overall "curriculum plus community" model.

“Hands-on learning research that benefits the economy, environment.”

Research consistently shows that children who have opportunities to actively investigate natural settings and engage in problem-based learning greatly benefit from the experiences. They gain skills, interests, knowledge, aspirations, and motivation to learn more. But how can we provide these rich opportunities in densely populated urban areas where resources and access to natural areas are limited? This project will develop and test a model of curriculum and community enterprise to address that issue within the nation's largest urban school system. Middle school students will study New York harbor and the extensive watershed that empties into it, and they will conduct field research in support of restoring native oyster habitats. The project builds on the existing Billion Oyster Project, and will be implemented by a broad partnership of institutions and community resources, including Pace University, the New York City Department of Education, the Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the New York Academy of Sciences, the New York Harbor Foundation, the New York Aquarium, and others. The project focuses on an important concept in the geological, environmental, and biological sciences that typically receives inadequate attention in schools: watersheds. This project builds on and extends the Billion Oyster Project of the New York Harbor School. The project model includes five interrelated components: A teacher education curriculum, a student learning curriculum, a digital platform for project resources, an aquarium exhibit, and an afterschool STEM mentoring program. It targets middle-school students in low-income neighborhoods with high populations of English language learners and students from groups underrepresented in STEM fields and education pathways. The project will directly involve over forty schools, eighty teachers, and 8,640 students over a period of three years. A quasi-experimental, mixed-methods research plan will be used to assess the individual and collective effectiveness of the five project components. Regression analyses will be used to identify effective program aspects and assess the individual effectiveness of participation in various combinations of the five program components. Social network mapping will be used to further asses the overall "curriculum plus community" model.

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Michael Haney

Facilitator

May 15, 2017 | 09:09 a.m.

The video emphasized developing citizen scientists and a sense of empowerment on environmental issues in the community using local bodies of water as the laboratory. The project notes show how multi-faceted this effort is. Do you envision either the project or students/schools in subsequent years investigating similar issues in other (non-marine) environments? You envision disparate sites sharing data but is there any form of networking among the various sites for broader conversations such as sharing subsequent ideas for investigations?

Dear Michael, Yes ! We are working on refining this model and hope that it will translate into other projects in various locations with other types of species ! Thanks for visiting the project video ! We continue to disseminate and share this work locally, nationally and globally too !

I enjoyed learning about your project. I'm curious how you coordinate investigations by a large number of students at a large number of schools: transportation to and from the sites; keeping track of oyster measurements; what do you assess?; and how to you report your assessments?

Dear Mark, Thank you for visiting our project video. All data and information is stored on our CCERS Digital Platform which acts the central hub for our project. The Research Team and Evaluation Teams analyze this information and it is disseminated more broadly by the team as whole. Should you have any further specific questions you can reach me at lbirney@pace.edu. Thanks again for visiting our project video ! Lauren

Thomas Kalil

Facilitator

May 15, 2017 | 09:09 p.m.

Clearly, there is a value to student involvement in citizen science in terms of student interest in STEM and understanding of the connections between STEM and real-world problems. To what extent does the student involvement help with the goals of the Billion Oyster Project?

Michael Haney

Facilitator

May 16, 2017 | 07:06 a.m.

The video mentions the website to connects kids and their work. Is this URL available for us to see? Are there formal ways that the sites in the NY area combine or use data from various sites to make inferences beyond what local data might show?

Judith Neugebauer

This is wonderful. Providing students the opportunities to conduct research in ways that they can relate to, "in their own backyard", is a wonderful way to connect them to their environment and to scientific research. How many students participate in the project every year?

Thanks for visiting our project Judith... We have 85 teaching fellows in our program and each of their classes participates annually ... impacting each of their classes annually ! :)

Ailene Altman Mitchell

K-12 Administrator

May 16, 2017 | 08:30 p.m.

Thank you so much for the opportunity, resources and outstanding program which fosters critical thinking skills with an emphasis on problem solving. We are looking forward to developing building the partnership and cultivating junior BOP fellows across the city that can share their findings on a national level.

Thanks Ailene ! We are so grateful for the community we have and the tremendous amount of support we have received !

Anna Suarez

Facilitator

May 17, 2017 | 02:06 p.m.

Terrific video and project! How long are students involved in the project? Are you following cohorts of students throughout their middle school years and capturing data on their STEM interest?

Joyce Kong

Higher Ed Faculty

May 17, 2017 | 04:20 p.m.

Anna, Thank you for your interest in our project! Some of our participating teachers work in the same school so they are able to co-plan, provide mentoring to new teacher fellows and develop a deeper curriculum for students who are involved for more than one school year. We have an annual BOP symposium each year for students to share their experiences and research.

Anna Suarez

Facilitator

May 18, 2017 | 06:41 p.m.

Joyce, thanks for the information. Really neat project; thanks again for sharing the video and details of your work!